Egyptian Lawmaker Resigns After Nose-Job Scandal

  • Share
  • Read Later
AP

In this Monday, Feb. 27, 2012 photo, Egyptian lawmaker Anwar al-Balkimy, center, gestures during a session of parliament in Cairo, Egypt.

A conservative Egyptian lawmaker resigned from parliament Monday after his claims that he’d been brutally beaten turned out to be fabrications to cover up his recent nose job.

Anwar al-Balkimy represented the Al-Nour party, widely regarded as Egypt’s most conservative. Members, known as Salafis, are expected to adhere strictly to the laws of Islam, which ban cosmetic surgery, the Associated Press reports. Members even condemn music and other forms of entertainment.

When al-Balkimy’s fellow lawmakers arrived at the hospital to question him, doctors confirmed that his claims of an attack were untrue.

(PHOTOS: Egypt’s Revolution Lost: Photographs by Dominic Nahr)

“Based on what the hospital officials said, we decided to expel him from the party, and so he submitted his resignation,” said Al-Nour spokesman Nader Bakar on the group’s Facebook page. “We are trying to bring forth a new set of social values in politics based on Islamic principles.”

The lawmaker reportedly checked into a Cairo hospital on Feb. 28 for the nose job, and checked into another hospital the next day, his face heavily bandaged. There, doctors said he claimed he’d been mugged and beaten. He told police his assailants robbed from him more than $16,000 and attempted to steal his car while he was driving along the outskirts of Cairo. If found guilty of filing a false police report, he could face jail time for “creating anxiety among the public” and “worrying public officials.”

After the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Nour is Egypt’s largest party, controlling a quarter of the seats in both houses of the country’s parliament. The party issued a public apology for the stir on its Facebook page.

MORE: Pilgrim’s Progress: The Hajj Revealed in a New Exhibition